


Forget Me Not

by SwayWithMe



Category: Walking Dead, Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M, pre-zombies, prologue is during zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-12 15:50:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1190835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwayWithMe/pseuds/SwayWithMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Daryl?” Rick questioned. Morales looked over at Rick. “His brother.” Rick turned his head to look out the window. Dixon, Daryl.  It couldn’t be… It had to be some kind of coincidence. - The story where Rick and Daryl met before the outbreak. When Rick was a cop and Daryl was a detective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting

Prologue: 

Rick sat there stewing in guilt as the group made their way back to the survivors’ camp. He couldn’t help it as his thoughts fell back on Merle Dixon left handcuffed to the roof. Trapped and chained out in the heat just waiting for the walkers to bust down the door and get to him like some kind of animal. Merle Dixon was a racist hillbilly that could have cost them their lives but no one deserved what they had just left him to deal with. Rick’s thoughts were interrupted by Morales. “Best best not to dwell on it. Merle got left behind. Nobody’s gonna be sad he didn’t come back… Except maybe Daryl.”

“Daryl?” Rick questioned.

Morales looked over at Rick. “His brother.” Rick turned his head to look out the window. Dixon, Daryl. The name was thick in his throat. It set off the alarms in his head and twisted in his gut. It couldn’t be… It had to be some kind of coincidence. His thoughts drifted back to before the outbreak, when the world had different types of hell to deal with.

 

* * *

* * *

 

Rick walked into the Precinct searching for any sign of the man he was supposed to meet. Captain Derek Sullivan had requested Rick to be sent down to Atlanta to help out on a case that his detectives were working. A little over a year back Rick somehow had been the one to catch the man responsible for 8 kidnappings and murders throughout the area. The case had been passed around so much that every cop at the local precincts were read in on it, and knew all the details. The man’s name was Damien Bartley and he was currently in jail sitting on death row. The crimes he committed always went with the same MO, picking up young girls walking home from school, burying them alive in a box, and then sending a video tape of the process to the local cops. The tape was always shot from the same angle, always showing the same green latex gloves covering his hands, and a pistol was always lying near the box as he covered it with dirt. His department had eventually matched Bartley to the crime and Rick was sent out with his department. When they arrived, Rick was the one that arrested the fleeing man and had interrogated him. He convinced Bartley to give up two locations of where the girls had been buried before Bartley’s lawyer had arrived and told him to say nothing else. Despite not finding the bodies of the other missing girls, Rick had figured the families had as much closure as they were going to get but that didn’t stop him from some extra visits to Bartley to try and convince him to give up locations in the year following. He was able to get two more locations out of him but the man remained silent about the others.

Last week a video had been sent to Atlanta’s PD seemingly matching ever little detail from those videos from the style to the items used. Two days ago another arrived. The fact that the man one would assume to be responsible for this was still behind bars had the department at a loss and there we no new leads on this apparent copycat. With the Captain’s team working on the case, Rick figured he was sent down to Atlanta to see if he could lend any knowledge of the case and Damien Bartley to the detectives working on it.

“Officer Grimes?” Rick turned and noticed a man walking towards him. “I’m Detective James McCann. And this is Detective Aaron Rainey. Captain Sullivan told us to get you settled in when you arrived.”

Both men were older than Rick was and looked like they hadn’t slept in days. Rick recalled the many all-nighters he had spent chasing Bartley, trying to figure out who he was and where he as hiding. And afterwards, the lack of sleep continued. Those teenage girls’ faces were burned in his memory. Even with catching Bartley Rick had never been able to save a single victim. Rick was pulled from his thoughts as both men reached out to shake his hand. They lead him into a large briefing room. In the middle was a large table with files from the case, a large tv set to the side, and a board filled with various pieces of evidence and photos.

Detecive McCann glanced over at him, “Make yourself comfortable. We’ve made this our base of sorts. You can leave your bags and files here. The Captain wanted to meet you in his office when you arrived. You can come back here when you’re done and we’ll fill you in on all the details we have.” Rick set all of his bags down and left to meet the captain in his office.

 

* * *

 

After a quick introduction and briefing on what he was expected to do while he was in Atlanta, and who he would be working on the case with, Rick left the captain’s office ready to see what he could do to help. Heading back to the briefing room he paused at the door. A younger man was talking to the two detectives he’d met. Rick leaned back against the wall and watched as the man paced back and forth in front of the detectives..

He was younger than Rick and the other detectives. Rick wondered how long he could have been out of the academy. His look stood out against the two detectives. He was in plain clothes, hair longer than what Rick was used to, and he was clearly angry. As he spoke he became more and more animated, his hands balled at his side rising slightly and his southern accent became more and more pronounced the longer he spoke.

“He sat there just smiling the whole damn time. Just let me have a minute alone with the bastard. No rules. I’d have him spilling everything he knows in minutes. Wouldn’t have to be putting up with this bullshit. Hearing him tell his stories like he’s some damn mastermind. He’d be answerin’ my questions then.”

Rick couldn’t help the scoff he let out at the man’s speech, quickly capturing the attention of the men in the room. The man in question turned and sent a glare his way. As the man’s eyes pierced his own, Rick couldn’t help but think he had some of the most piercing eyes he had ever seen but the anger in them threw him off.  “Who are you?”

‘Well he’s friendly,’ Rick thought. “Rick Grimes.”

The man continued to stare at him clearly not having any idea who Rick was. “Rick Grimes? You got something you wanna tell me?”

Rick briefly wondered if he should just pass the scoff off as nothing, get to know these guys in a calmer manner, but seeing how stormy this man was and seeing the other detectives watching, Rick decided he’d rather prove his knowledge to the group. Rick grinned at him. “Yeah, your plan is a bad idea. You really think you can beat anything Bartley knows out of him? And this is if he even knows anything. This could all be some copycat that Bartley hasn’t got a clue about. The Bartley case is well known and Bartley doesn’t like to share. Plus Bartley has taken multiple beatings in his life. Nothing you do is going to make him spill anything if you approach him like that.”

The man’s eyes sparked and he started to move towards Rick. “Now listen here you city-slicker, I  oughta …”

“Dixon.” Detective McCann put a hand on the man’s shoulder interrupting. “Simmer down. This is Officer Rick Grimes. He’s the one who arrested Bartley back then, solved all those cases. Captain wanted him down here to help us out. Be nice.” McCann turned to Rick, “This is Daryl Dixon. He’s our precinct’s go to undercover cop but he’s helping us out with this case. He’s the one who has been having the most conversations with Bartley while we waited for you to get sent down here to help.”

Daryl continued to glare at Detective McCann. “I’ve been workin’ him fine and I’m getting him to talk now. I’m in charge of talking to him. That’s not changing just cause we got someone else down here.”

Rick looked at Daryl knowing what the man was going through. He had heard his complaints about how Bartley wasn’t answering anything. He knew how frustrating it was to have him just sit there and grin while you asked him question after question and him only answering what he wanted to say. Rick had gotten to the point where he almost wanted to beg Bartley to tell what he needed to know. “I’m just here to help," Rick said staring straight at Daryl. "I’m not interesting in taking over anyone’s job. But it sounds like you could use a little help.”

Daryl scowled and stormed out of the room and into the Captain’s office knocking shoulders with Rick as he passed by. Rick’s eyes followed him the entire way. Detective McCann smirked at Rick  “Sorry about him. He’s…

“Not usually so prickly?” Rick questioned.

“No. He is. He’s not really fond of new people. But he usually doesn’t take it out on someone helping him out, especially on cases like this. But then again, this case is a little personal for him. Come on, take a seat. You can check out the tapes we’ve gotten. Then Daryl should be back and he can fill you in on some of his sessions with Bartley. Or you can just read some of his case reports. Anything we have is in those files” Rick nodded at McCann and took a seat at the table. The two detectives excused themselves from the room when Rick started to make his way through the files.


	2. Working

An hour later, Rick felt sick. Everything was exactly the same as the cases he was working on years ago. From the packaging the video came in, to the objects shown on the tape, nothing was standing out as different. Even things they had held back from the press were a perfect match to before. Daryl had been right. Bartley had to have known something about this, or told someone about what he had done. That or some cop had leaked the information. The former seemed more likely. Rick slammed the folder he was reading on the table and looked up. The pictures of the two girls taken were right in front of his face and he couldn’t help but stare right back at the images. He knew the girls were dead by now. No one could survive that long without a steady oxygen supply. But they had to find whoever was doing this before they took someone else.

A cough drew him from his state. He glanced over and saw Daryl sitting down from him at the table looking through files. Rick had been so engrossed in the files he hadn’t even heard anyone enter the room. Rick stood up and walked over to the bulletin board where the evidence had been plastered along with all the victims’ pictures and Bartley’s.

“He’s a s _umbitch_ isn’t he?” Rick’s body betrayed him as it jumped startled at Daryl’s voice but Daryl gave no hint of catching it as he continued on. “Bartley. Bastard still isn’t sorry for anything. Thinks it was part of something bigger. That the girls’ families deserved it, we deserved it. Won’t tell us about where the missing bodies of the remaining 4 girls are either. Fuckin’ prick.”

“Guess he hasn’t changed then. Was the same way when I collared him. Almost seemed happy to be caught… Liked he’d finally get this recognition he thought he deserved.”

Daryl nodded at Rick and turned back to his files so Rick returned to his seat and did the same. Half an hour later they were interrupted when Detective McCann entered the room. “Glad to see you two are getting along now.”

Rick cocked an eyebrow at the man. “We’re sitting here in silence.”

McCann grinned, “Yeah. But Daryl isn’t yelling at you which is about as close to like as you’re going to get.” Daryl flipped McCann off making the man laugh. “It’s good because Grimes here will be staying with you while he was.”

“Me?” Daryl questioned.

“Well I’d let him stay with me but with the wife and kids there’s no room, Aaron has a one bedroom apartment, and I doubt he wants to stay with the captain. He could stay in a hotel but we figured it’d be easier if he was with one of us. Since he’s going to be your partner of sorts on this case it’s probably best you guys stay together.”

Daryl grunted in acceptance. “Well get yer ass up then, Officer Grimes. Looks like you’re bunking with me this week.”

A little surprised at the quick agreement, Rick grabbed his bags and followed Daryl out of the room. Nodding at the other detectives as they passed he walked with Daryl to his car. Daryl unlocked the doors and Rick threw his bags into the backseat before sitting up front. Daryl whipped the car out of its parking space and headed for his home.

 

* * *

 

The car coming to a halt ripped Rick out of his dreams. Realizing he must have fallen asleep on the way to Daryl’s house he sent a quick glance over to Daryl. “Sorry, didn’t realize I was so tired.”

Daryl was already pulling himself out of the driver’s seat. “Figured your flight and those files wore ya out. Come on, then. This is my house.” Rick pulled himself out, grabbed his bags, and followed Daryl up the front stairs and into the house.

“Kitchen’s in the back. Help yourself to whatever if you’re hungry. There’s a spare room on the left. Use it. Extra blankets and pillows in the closet. I’m over on the right if ya need anything. Bathroom is between the rooms and there’s towels in the hall closet if ya need a shower. S’been a long day. I’m gonna hit the sack.” With that Daryl nodded at him and went into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Finding himself all alone in the living room, Rick took the time to check out the house. The rooms themselves were quaint and simple. Not too much furniture, no copious amounts of portraits or items around. Just a few scattered photographs of some of the detectives he’d seen at the station, a tv on the wall, and a couple extra appliances in the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water and finding he wasn’t very hungry decided to give Carl and Lori a call. Rick couldn’t help but smile at the excitement in Carl’s voice when he told him all about his trip to Atlanta and the characters he’d met at the station. After letting Carl tell him about his day at school, he told the boy goodnight, that he’d call tomorrow and to let him speak to Lori. Lori wasn’t as thrilled at the situation as Carl was. She asked Rick about how long he was going to stay, whether or not he’d come home after he talked to Bartley. Not wanting to get into an argument with Lori, he told her he’d see what he could do. He called his partner, Shane Walsh, next to update him on the case and get him to check on Lori and Carl tomorrow whenever he got a chance. After he made all the calls he needed, he passed out exhausted in bed.

 

* * *

 

Rick woke up as the smell of coffee settled into his room. He grabbed his clothes and went to take a shower. Dressed and ready for the day he exited the bathroom and walked into the kitchen. Daryl was sitting at the table reading the newspaper. He glanced up when Rick entered the room. “Coffee’s in the pot.”

Grabbing a mug and pouring himself some Rick sat down at the table and grabbed the extra sections left on the table. “Captain wants me to take you to meet with Bartley today. See if ya can get anything out of him ‘cause I can’t seem to. Figured we’d leave after you’re done eating if you’re ready.

Rick nodded, “What’d he say to you yesterday.”

“Nothin’ really,” Daryl replied. “That he didn’t know nothin’ about anymore missing girls, that he didn’t tell anyone about how he did what he did, then he wanted me to sit there and listen to him tell how he took those girls and buried them. I sat there wanting to just knock the man out so bad but was thinkin’ he might slip and tell me where he buried the others.”

Rick could tell by the fire in Daryl’s eyes how angry he was. “Yeah. I’ve tried everything to get him to give up the remaining locations and he won’t. Even offered to move him off death row and he won’t budge.”

“Can’t imagine the makes the families happy… That he told y’all about 4 of the girls but won’t say anything about the other 4. Doesn’t make sense.” Daryl shook his head and went to put his mug in the sink.

“They’re okay,” at Daryl’s questioning look he continued, “The families. They know we got the guy that did it. They know that some of the girls were able to be buried with their families. They’re hurting because they haven’t been able to lay their own daughters to rest but they understand that we’ve been doing all we can to try find them still. They have the justice they need.”

“You think so, huh?” Daryl asked him. “Figure someone in those girls’ families thinks justice will lie in being able to bury them. Getting some closure. How can you sleep when you don’t know where your own blood is?”

Rick couldn’t formulate anything to reply to Daryl and the man turned and left the kitchen. Daryl had seemed so certain and Rick understood he was probably right. Of course the families would tell Rick they were doing okay, that at least they knew who had done it, at least he had been convicted of their murder, but would want more than anything to bring their daughters home in any way possible. Rick decided then that once they found whoever took these other girls, that he’d make Bartley tell him where the other girls were. No matter what he had to do to get the locations.

Daryl returned to the kitchen and his footsteps pulled Rick from his thoughts. “Ready to head out?” 


	3. Learning

When they arrived at the Prison, they were escorted into a room that Bartley would be brought into. Rick had started to feel ill. He hated dealing with Bartley and knowing that Bartley likely held key information in stopping this guy, he wasn’t feeling all that confident in catching the perpetrator before even more girls were taken. He knew he had to do everything he could to make sure that didn’t happened. He turned to ask Daryl how he wanted to play this out and caught him just staring out into space. “You okay?” he asked.

Before Daryl could get an answer out Bartley was escorted into his chair in the room. He looked up at Rick and smiled. “Rick Grimes. It’s been too long.”

Rick resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sat down in one of the chairs across from Bartley. “Is that so?”

Bartley turned his eyes to Daryl. “Detective, I really enjoyed our talk yesterday. I wish I had time to tell you even more. Did you get everything you wanted?” Bartley grinned at him. “Won’t you join us?” he added.

Daryl glared at the man and Rick was surprised when Daryl made no move to sit down at the table. Rick assumed this was enough permission from Daryl to begin to question Bartley on his own. “You know why I’m here Bartley. Seems like we have ourselves a copycat. I’d think you wouldn’t be too fond of someone stealing all your ideas.”

Bartley turned his grin to Rick. “I don’t know if I really mind that much. It’s flattering, don’t you think? Flattering that someone thought my crimes were so perfect that it was fitting to copy them.”

“Not perfect enough. You’re rotting in a jail cell and not still out there doing your own crimes.” Daryl interrupted.

Bartley glanced over at him before he turned his eyes back to Rick. “I don’t think your friend likes me very much. But I like him. He has fire. You do too, Rick Grimes. But you’re better at keeping it hidden. Don’t think for a second I think you’re here to get help figuring out who is doing this. You think I’m involved and you want to know who I could have possibly talked to about what I’d done. And you still want to know where those other girls are. But if we’re going to do this, you’re going to do it on my terms and at my pace. What am I going to get from helping you?”

“What could you want, Bartley” Rick answered. “You know you’re never going free. Not with what you’ve done. You don’t have any remorse. We’ve already offered to take the death penalty off the table if you’d give up the locations of the bodies you’ve still got buried.”

The smile Bartley gave Rick shook him. “I need someone to listen to me that knows the case. I’m overseeing the writing of a book, you know? I want you to sit here and listen as I retell what happened to those girls. I want you to tell me where I went wrong. I want to know what clues you caught onto. Then, I’ll help you find your criminal.” Daryl snorted from the corner.

“And I want him here too,” Bartley added, “But not today. I need to prepare. Tomorrow. Guards!”

The guards entered and escorted Bartley from the room. Rick couldn’t help but wonder what Bartley was playing at and why he was doing this. “Who the fuck would want to write a book about him?” Rick was interrupted from his thoughts by Daryl’s outburst.

“Stuff like this sells,” Rick answered, “But let’s find out.” Rick moved from the chair and started walking to the Warden’s office, Daryl following behind. When they met the secretary Rick asked for the visitor’s log. “Daryl,” Rick called, “He’s been getting visits from a James Cox every week for the last 4 months.”

Daryl checked the name over his shoulder and wrote it down. “We should get back to the precinct. We can get information off this guy when we get there.” With that he turned and headed out the door. Rick thanked the secretary and did the same.

* * *

Rick looked over at Daryl just in time to see how he rolled his eyes and shook his head at the man. Rick placed his hand over his mouth and coughed to cover up the laugh that was threatening to come out. “Alright, Very funny,” Daryl told him. “Why doncha just tell us what you know without the jokes.”

Detective McCann grabbed his pad and started reading off the information on Cox. “James Cox. 27. He’s a writer but none of his books are very well known. A couple of the books are about other serial murderers. His record is clean. He started writing to Bartley in prison a year ago before starting to visit him. Currently in London on some type of business trip. We’ve already alerted him to the fact that Atlanta PD wants to speak with him as soon as possible. He said he would be back in the States early next week.” He looked up to both Daryl and Rick. “That’s about all we know about him.”

Daryl and Rick spent the rest of the day with the other detectives going over every aspect of the case and a game plan for the next time they met with Bartley and when they would meet with Cox. After they had finished they left to return to Daryl’s house. 

* * *

When they arrived at the house, Daryl ordered pizza for dinner and Rick went to take a shower while they waited for the pizza to be delivered. By the time Rick had finished showering, the pizza had arrived. “Want a beer?” Daryl asked, already handing Rick a bottle as he walked into the kitchen. Rick took it, grabbed some pizza, and followed Daryl back into the living room to eat.

Rick couldn’t take the quiet as they ate. “I’m not a city-slicker,” he said, trying to break the silence. At Daryl’s questioning look he continued on, “You called me a city-slicker when we first met. I’m from the country, if anything. King County. You’re more of a city-slicker than I am living in Atlanta.”

Daryl smirked at Rick. “Didn’t grow up here. Lived outside the city growin’ up. Hunting, Fishing, how much of that have you ever done? You sure act like you don’t even like havin’ a gun on you.”

Rick laughed at Daryl’s assessment. It was pretty spot on actually. He much preferred the days when the most action they got at the department was some kid stealing something from a store or a traffic accident. He hardly ever had to use his gun. “Alright. You got me. I don’t mind the easy life. ”

“And I enjoy the wild,” Daryl told him. “So what kind of family do you got, anyway? Heard you mention to McCann that you got a son.” Rick was surprised at the curiosity that he could hear in Daryl’s voice. Rick hadn’t been sure they’d ever talk beyond the case. One thing he had learned from the short time he’d known Daryl was the man was quiet. Small talk was even a luxury for him.

“My son, Carl. He’s 9. My wife. They’re home.”

“They okay with you being out here?” Daryl got up and grabbed another piece of pizza. “With you just bein’ a small town cop and all,” he added, amusement shining in his eyes.

“They have to be,” Rick replied. “When we got the Bartley case I was at the office a lot. It took everything for a while. I’ve had a few other cases like that. Or sometimes they send me out of town if another precinct needs help. I think Carl’s realized that if I’m not home for a while then I’m working on something really important. He’s a smart kid. He wants to be a cop, too. Or so he says.” Rick laughed and tossed his wallet to Daryl. “First picture in there is him in all my gear at the station. I let him wear the hat, the deputy shirt, and shoot a gun in the training room. Lori was so mad I let him fire that gun.”

“He’s trouble, huh?” Daryl said after he looked at the picture. “Lori’s your wife?”

“Yeah, Married 10 years. She got pregnant when I was in the academy and we got married before Carl was born. She’s less okay with the cop thing. Carl thinks it cool. Lori thinks it’s more of hassle. Doesn’t help when I’m getting called to help on cases out of town or staying all night at the station so I don’t know if I can really blame her. I think she’d rather me just work at the store or something. Always wants me to talk about my job with her but when I do it just seems to piss her off. Like I’m not telling her what she wants to hear so she’d rather just not listen. It’s only been getting worse. Hell if I know why…” Rick trailed off. He hadn’t realized that he’d just opened up with a personal rant that he was positive Daryl didn’t want to hear. His problems should be his own.. He figured he’d just been so surprised that he had Daryl actually talking to him that he just couldn’t filter himself.

Rick looked up and saw Daryl had a smirk on his face. “Figure that’s why I’ve never been married, man.”

Rick laughed “And here I thought it was because of your charming personality.”

Daryl flipped him off but his face was so comical Rick had to do everything he could not completely bust out laughing. “Besides it’s hard enough to have relationships with anyone when you’re undercover all the time. How would Lori handle you not being able to call and check in every night?”

“I wouldn’t be able to do it.” Rick answered. “Lori’d divorce me in a second over that. And I’d never do that to Carl. I wouldn’t want him wondering where I was. Wondering if I was dead. I’d never want him to go through something like that. And like you said, I don’t even like carrying a gun. How the hell would I put myself in a position where I’m surrounded by criminals?”

“Some people are born surrounded by criminals,” Daryl told him, taking a long swig of his beer. “It’s not that hard, anyway. You get used to it. Learn to read people. I can usually tell what someone’s gonna do before they do it. And you always get the bad guy when you’re relying on yourself to get the job done. Better on my own, anyway. Don’t have to worry about trustin’ who I’m with to get something done right.”

Rick realized this talk was probably the best thing for him and Daryl. They had to work together to get this guy and there was clearly an animosity when Rick first arrived. After he listened to Daryl’s last statement he now thought he understood why. “So that’s it then. That’s why you don’t want me here? You’re better on your own? You think I might mess this up.”

Daryl sighed and leaned back in his seat. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped like he couldn’t figure out what to say. Finally he continued on. “Didn’t not don’t. That was before. Didn’t know anything about you. Hard to trust someone you don’t know. Someone who don’t know a thing about you. ‘Sides I don’t really do partners. And no one told me you were being sent down here. This asshole needs to be found and I didn’t want someone coming in and leading us the wrong way. I need to get this guy. He can’t get anyone else.”

“Daryl,” Rick said, his voice strong with authority and conviction. He waited for Daryl to meet his eyes before he continued. “You’re going to get this guy and I am going to help you. We’re going to stop him from taking anyone else. I know you want him caught and I do too. It’s not just a random case for me. This case is personal, Bartley involvement or none. You gotta trust me though ‘cause we won’t get shit done if you keep thinking you have to monitor everything I do or that I’m going to mess something up. I know today I didn’t really prove anything with Bartley but he knew what he was going to do before he even saw us. We’re better prepared for next time. We’re gonna figure this out. You just have to trust that I want this guy caught as bad as you do.”

Rick waited, maintaining eye contact and hoping he had said enough to get his point across, that he’d said something that made Daryl gain even just a dash of trust that Rick would do what he needed to do to catch whoever was responsible for these kidnappings. Daryl continued to just stare into Rick’s eyes until Rick could see the acknowledgement and relief pass through him. He gave Rick a quick nod that made Rick grin. “Alright then” Rick told him. “I think I’ll head to bed. Goodnight Daryl. See you tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words. I've only written one other fic that I published besides this and it was a one-shot. So I appreciate the niceness. It's still really new... and scary to me.


	4. Knowing

The next morning Rick awoke and felt confident about the job he was sent to Atlanta to do. The understanding he and Daryl seem to have developed the previous night would only serve to benefit them in the field and in trying to get Bartley to talk. When he left his room, Daryl already had coffee in a to-go cup for him and doughnuts in a bag. Rick grabbed the items and went straight to the car, ready to head out to the precinct to get everything together for their conversation with Bartley.

Time at the precinct went by quickly. Detectives McCann and Rainey were out talking to people who had called in tips about the missing girls. The other cops and detectives were hard at work on their own cases. At lunch, McCann and Rainey had reappeared with burgers for the entire station and the Captain had called them in with Daryl and Rick to go over what they had learned from their surveying of witnesses and tipsters. When 4 pm came along, Daryl and Rick were ready to go to the prison to get all the information they could from Bartley.

“Keep it calm.” Captain Sullivan called as they left the precinct. “Get your heads straight.”

* * *

                                                                                       

Like the last time, Rick and Daryl were escorted to a room in which Bartley would be brought, as soon as they arrived at the prison. And like last time, Rick sat down at the table and Daryl leaned against the wall behind him. Rick appreciated the few minutes of silence as he prepared himself for what was to come.

Bartley arrived in the room loudly. He took his seat across from Rick at the table and looked up to Daryl with a smile. Rick noticed in the two-way mirror behind Bartley that Daryl tensed slightly when Bartley looked up at him. The action caused Bartley to smile even wider.

“Well let’s begin shall we? We have a lot to go through.”

Daryl and Rick listened as Bartley recounted case by case each girl he had taken and what he had done to them. He questioned Rick on what things the department had picked up from each case. After hearing about the seventh girl, Rick felt nauseous. He already knew most of the facts on how these girls had died and he hated having to relive it.

Rick knew that there was only one more story he’d have to sit through and then he would be able to ask questions, but he dreaded the facts of the last girl’s case the most. This was the girl that was taken while he was working on the case. This was the girl that was taken after he promised himself that he wouldn’t let another girl be hurt by this man. This girl was killed because he hadn’t been fast enough, smart enough, or strong enough to stop Bartley. The urge to just leave the room took over his entire body and his hands began to tremble.

“Now, Victim number 8. My last one. She was a stunning little one.”

The sound of a deep intake of breath from behind him filled the room. Rick stared at Daryl in the two-way mirror and noticed that he suddenly looked uncomfortable. Rick had been hyper aware of how quiet Daryl had been the entire time he was behind him. Rick had continually glanced behind Bartley and caught Daryl’s eyes in the mirror to see if he could read what the man was thinking but he had seen how closed off Daryl had been as he listened to Bartley’s stories.

Rick looked back at Bartley and noticed the man wasn’t looking at him at all. Bartley had focused all his attention on Daryl. Rick glanced back and forth between the two, and made no effort to conceal the confusion he felt. The entire time Bartley had told the details of his crimes he was completely focused on Rick. He never once looked away. Bartley had been angling for any information Rick had on the how the officers had gotten evidence of the kidnappings. And yet, the one case Rick would actually be able to give full inside information on, the one case Rick had been directly involved in, the one case that caused them to catch Bartley, had caused the man to be focused on Daryl.

Rick coughed and turned Bartley’s attention back him. “You gonna continue or are you stopping there?”

“I was just wondering if your partner was going to come sit with us at any point. He must be uncomfortable standing there. Don’t you want to be comfortable, Daryl?” The hairs on the back of Rick’s neck prickled as he felt the tension in the room grow.

“S’fine.” Daryl replied.

“Very well” Bartley said as he turned back to Rick. “She’s in a really special place. I kept her the longest. She cried and cried for her mother and father. But no one could help her. Such a shame, isn’t it Daryl?

Before Rick had any time to react Daryl had rushed around the room and forced Bartley against the wall, his hands wrapped in Bartley’s shirt. Rick jumped from his chair. “Daryl.” he called.

Daryl gave no indication that he had even heard him. “Daryl! Let him go.” Rick called, even louder. Daryl released Bartley and took a step back. The sigh of relief from Rick was short lived as Daryl met his eyes. The anger Daryl felt was apparent in his appearance. His fists were clinched tight, his whole body was tense, his breathing was quick and shallow, and his eyes were daggers.

Rick looked over at Bartley and caught the man grinning wildly. “Tsk Tsk, Detective. You aren’t going to get any information that way. Did I make you angry? She was such a sweet little girl. And she was so scared. Maybe I should have let her live?”

Rick watched in shock as Daryl threw a punch that connected with Bartley’s jaw, sending him into the wall. As Daryl continued to punch Bartley, Rick ran up to Daryl and tried to pull him off of the man. “Daryl. Shit. Stop it. Let him go.” 

Rick finally mustered the strength to pull Daryl off just as the guards entered the room. Daryl shrugged him off. “Get your hands off me, Rick. Get off me.” Rick could only watch as Daryl tore out of the room before he chased after him.

* * *

“Daryl. Daryl!” Rick called out. “Would you stop for one second, damn it?” When he finally caught up to the man in the parking lot of the prison, Rick grabbed his arm and spun him around. “Would you tell me what the hell just happened in there?”

“You were there. You saw the whole damn thing. He was being an asshole. He was baiting us with that last girl. Things he was saying. I lost it.”

Rick just gaped at the man, not understanding. “But why, Daryl? You know that wasn’t going to make him talk. He’d been saying comments like that all day. And we were getting to the end. We just had to let him finish before we could work him some more. He was already giving away little details we didn’t know. But you just repeatedly punched a prisoner without any physical provocation… Do you know how bad that looks? How much trouble we both could get in for that if he tries to press charges? Hell, the guards saw. Don’t you think you owe me some explanation at least?”

Rick continued to try and catch Daryl’s eyes but the man refused to look at him. He eyes bounced from one place to another around the parking lot. “He knows... He did…I…” Daryl couldn’t even finish a sentence. “You just don’t know.” Rick watched as Daryl turned and stalked to the car calling back over his shoulder. “Whatever. You want to arrest me or something?”

“Do I want to arrest… Are you serious, Daryl? I just want you tell me what happened. I’ll back you up. You know I will.” Daryl looked up and caught Rick’s eye for the first time since the altercation and the raw emotion in them made Rick take a step back. Anything Rick was about to say lodged in his throat and he knew he needed to stay quiet. After what seemed like an eternity Daryl climbed into the car. Rick followed suit and Daryl peeled out of the parking lot.

* * *

 

As the car made its way back to Daryl’s house, Rick risked a few glances at Daryl. His knuckles were white due to his grip on the steering wheel and dried blood covered them. His face was blank as he looked straight ahead out the window but his eyes were stormy. Rick knew there was something big he was missing but he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to get whatever it was out of Daryl. His mind replayed everything Bartley had said before Daryl went off on him. To Rick it seemed like Bartley hadn’t been saying anything much different than what he had said about those other little girls. Rick had known that he had to keep himself calm while Bartley was talking about the last victim for his own reasons but he hadn’t thought about keeping a check on Daryl as well. But Rick could tell Bartley had focused on Daryl with this last girl, he just didn’t understand why. Rick sighed as he glanced at Daryl one more time. He knew he’d have to get to the bottom of this if they were going to have any chance at keeping themselves on this case.

When they pulled up to Daryl’s house, Rick climbed from the car. He looked over at Daryl from across the hood.

“Daryl. We have to talk. You have to tell me what’s going on.”Daryl just continued to stare at him.

“You trust me, right?” Rick continued. “Last night, during our talk. I thought we came to an understanding. You can trust me. And I realized today something bigger was going on and I didn’t have a clue how to stop what was building. You gotta help me out here.”

Daryl kept Rick locked in a fierce stare before the man nodded at Rick and turned to walk inside with Rick on his heels.

* * *

Rick watched as Daryl walked over to the couch and sat down. He put his head in his hands and sighed. “I knew her. The girl, the last victim. Haylee. She’s my brother’s. He messed around with this girl and got her pregnant. Neither of them was gonna be any good for a baby so they gave her up for adoption. He used to get these papers with information about her every year. Things she'd done in school, places she’d gone. That kind of stuff. I was workin’ this drug case deep undercover when she was taken. I never even knew ‘till my job was done. No one told me anything. By then it was too late. You’d already found and arrested him. My brother… he isn’t going to win any person of the year medals but he loved that girl. He ain’t forgiven me for not being there. We went through a lot of shit when we were younger and we always pissed one another off but at the end of the day we always had each other’s backs. And the one time he really needed me I wasn’t there.”

Daryl finally looked up and met Rick’s eyes and Rick couldn’t breathe. The pain he knew Daryl must be feeling. His own blood had been taken and he didn’t even know. Rick couldn’t imagine if he’d been on the job and Carl had been taken and no one told him. Rick felt like he'd developed a camaraderie with Daryl since the first day they had started working together and now he couldn't understand how Daryl hadn't punched him the second he saw him. How he could even stand to be near Rick. Rick felt guilt churn in his stomach of the thought of letting Daryl down. Last night he had implored Daryl to trust him, telling him he wouldn't let him down. And now he realized he had already let him down and the thought made him feel sick. Daryl must have seen it in his face because he rose from his chair and grabbed a couple beers from the fridge. He handed one to Rick and turned to go back to his chair.

“I’m sorry.” Rick choked out.

Daryl stopped and turned back to look at him.“What the hell are ya sorry for? You didn’t take her. You didn’t keep the information from me.”

“I’m sorry…" Rick forced himself to take a deep breath. "I’m sorry I didn’t find her in time. I told myself I was going to stop him before he took anymore girls and then he took…” Rick trailed off. He took a gulp of his beer, caught his breath, and continued on, “I told myself I was going to find her. That we’d save this one and then catch the man and put him in jail. I really thought I was going to save her. We were so close to getting him. I didn’t sleep but a couple hours that entire week. Barely saw my wife, my own son and the whole time, it didn’t even matter. I just knew I was going to save her if I did everything I could. And then it was too late. And we’d failed everyone again. She was taken and killed on my watch, Daryl. I couldn't save her.”

“You're a dumbass,” Daryl told him. Rick looked up and met Daryl’s eyes in confusion. He noticed Daryl had taken a seat in the chair across from him. "That's right. You're a dumbass. I ain't gonna blame someone who did everything they could to help her. Someone who has been workin' his ass off on the most evil bastard for years to try and get whatever information he can off of him to help find the bodies. Her death, all their deaths, is on Bartley. S’not your fault, Rick."

“Then it’s not yours either,” Rick replied. "You just said it's Bartley's fault. You blame yourself for not being there for your brother but you can't do that either. If you do that then I can blame myself for Haylee." Rick froze as he realized he had spoken the girl's name.

Daryl surprised him when he just tipped his beer bottle at Rick. “Well us both mopin' around won’t solve shit. We’re going to find whatever bastard is doing this now and stop him from gettin’ anyone else, you hear?

Rick nodded, “And then we’re going to convince Bartley to tell us where those remaining girls’ bodies are. I’m done just waiting, hoping he’ll tell us. Get everyone some closure. Finish this once and for all. Then let him die.”

Rick felt the mutual agreement between he and decided to head to bed and let Daryl collect his own thoughts. When he got to his room he gave Carl a call. After Carl told him all about his day at school and how soccer practice had gone, Rick had almost forgotten about all the stress of the day. Rick always welcomed talking to his son as a way to relieve the anxiety he felt due to his job. He’d discovered early on that any hardships or issues he was having with his job, coming home and listening to Carl’s stories and adventures always calmed him down.

“Well I’m glad you had a good day, Carl. Now you need to go get your homework done and then get ready for bed.”

“But dad,” Carl argued.

“Nope. None of that. Go on and let me talk to your mother,” Rick told him.

“She’s out. Uncle Shane came by with pizza for us. Then he and mom went out. Miss Mandy is here with me.”

“Alright then.” Rick told Carl. “You do what Miss Mandy says. And you get your homework done. Leave a note for your mom saying I checked in and I still don’t know when I’m going to be able to leave. I’ll call you both in the morning, okay? I love you.”

Rick felt a tinge of relief at not having to speak with Lori, which he instantly felt guilty over. After the day’s events, he wasn't really prepared to have an argument on why he still wasn’t heading back yet. He knew he was putting a lot of pressure on Lori being gone. Half the time, she already felt like they were living separate lives and this was when he was working 15 minutes away in the small town police office. Rick knew this would only add to the discord they were having. Rick sighed just thinking about it. He knew this was important but he didn’t quite know how to communicate the responsibility he felt with this case to her. Rick was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Daryl’s door close from across the hall. Rick put his cell on the table and finished preparing for bed.

 

 

 


	5. Discovering

When Rick awoke the next morning he wasn’t in the best of spirits. Knowing the little last girl he had let down was related to Daryl was grating on him. That combined with the fact that the two girls taken in Atlanta were long dead by now and the new perpetrator was probably gearing up for his next victim had Rick anxious. But when Rick thought back to the previous night’s conversation he felt a sudden bond with Daryl to find the whoever was doing this. A phone call from the captain interrupted him while he was drinking coffee and Daryl was in the shower. The captain had requested Daryl and Rick get to the precinct as soon as possible. When Rick and Daryl arrived and went to the base room, they noticed Captain Sullivan and Detectives McCann and Rainey going over video.

“Morning,” Rick called to them as he and Daryl walked into the room

“You’re not going to believe what lead we just got.” Detective McCann told them as he put a picture of a burnt skeleton’s body on the television screen.

“Who the hell’s that?” Daryl asked.

“Would you believe it’s one, James Cox,” McCann answered him, “The real James Cox.”

Rick stared at the man in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Detective McCann pulled up a set of matching dental records. “A man found this skeleton at the State Park. It’s been burnt but the teeth are still there. James Cox had a short stint in jail where he needed dental surgery. They kept his dental records and when the skeleton’s teeth were run through the system this morning, it matched. Since we ran James Cox through the system a couple days back, it alerted us to the match.”

“If that’s the real James Cox, then who the hell’s been visiting Bartley?” Daryl asked

“We’re not sure,” Detective Rainey told both Daryl and Rick. “We’re running through all facial recognition search engines now trying to find any type of match from the prison security tape at the entrance. We’ve also sent an officer to pick up security video from the parking lot to see if we can determine which car he was using and get a license plate. But it’s clear that the person is not James Cox. And we’re going to have to figure out whether or not Bartley knew about this or not. But we can’t let him know before we figure out who this person is.”

Rick watched as Captain Sullivan walked over to Daryl. “Daryl, step into my office for a minute.” He looked up at Rick and the other Detectives. “You continue keeping a watch on the facial recognition and the security lot video when it gets here.”

Rick saw Daryl meet his eyes beforehe turned and followed the captain into his office. Rick turned back to the other Detectives and shrugged at their confused glances. He figured the captain had learned of the incident at the prison but he didn’t have the urge to let the other detectives in on Daryl’s business.

 

* * *

 

Rick couldn’t help but keep glancing at the office to see if there was any movement inside. From what he could gather from the window into the office was they were just talking. Rick hoped that Daryl wouldn’t be taken off the case. He couldn’t imagine not having Daryl to have his back on this case. Rick continued to keep a close eye on the door of the office but the officer with the security video walked into the precinct and stole his attention.

Detective McCann walked over quickly to grab the security video and handed it to one of the cyber techs at the station to put it on the screen.

“Alright, the man signed into the prison books at 10:52 am.” Detective Rainey told them. “Let’s set the video in the parking lot to 10:30,” he told the tech.

Rick walked over and grabbed the picture of the man at the sign in desk. “We’re looking for a man with dark hair, glasses, wearing a suit jacket but jeans.” Rick told the detectives. “I’d say he’s approximately 6 feet tall. Mid 20s to Mid 30s.”

Rick felt his eyes scan over every single car entering into the prison from the road as he looked for anyone matching the description. All three were focused completely on the video. Rick was so engrossed on the video that he didn’t even notice when someone walked up behind him. A hand touched his shoulder lightly and made Rick jump. He turned and met Daryl’s gaze. “See anything yet?”

Rick shook his head no. “Everything alright?” he asked Daryl.

Daryl nodded and they both turned back to the video. Rick handed Daryl the picture of the man they were looking for. At 10:43 am they watched a mustang pull into the parking lot. “Got ‘em,” Daryl said as he saw the man exit the car. Rick looked and sure enough the man that had gotten out of the car was an exact match. They watched him walk up to the entrance of the prison.

“Get me his car exiting the prison.” Detective McCann told the police tech. “I want that plate number right now.”

Rick watched as the police tech forwarded the video. He heard the constant tapping of Daryl’s fingers against the desk. He saw Detective McCann pacing back and forth from the corner is eye. Finally, the saw the car begin to exit the parking lot. The police tech zoomed the video in on the exit and they waited to see the car show up on the screen. When it did the plate could be clearly seen. “Got ‘em,” Daryl said again as he looked over at Rick.

Detective McCann grabbed his computer and put the plate into the vehicle registration database. “The car belongs to one Victor Callen,” He told them. “It isn’t reported as stolen. The driver’s license is loading.”

Rick watched as the license popped up on the screen. Rick let out a deep exhale when he saw the picture. “I can’t believe it. It’s him. This is too simple, right? Did we really just find the guy.”

“Nah, Grimes. We just got his address. We ain’t found him yet.” Daryl said but then his lips twitched. “We gonna though.”

“I’m going to let the captain know. Grab your things. We’re going after him as soon as I’m done.” Detective McCann told them.

Rick watched as Daryl went over to his desk. He grabbed his gun and looked up at Rick. “You need to borrow a gun, small-town?”

Rick rolled his eyes as he patted his colt python. “I’ve got one, thanks.”

Detective McCann exited the office and looked at Daryl. “Now we don’t want to spook him before we bring him in. And we don’t want to bring him in until we’ve watched him for a bit. Rainey and I will stakeout right down the street so we can get a clear view of his house. I want you and Rick to take the other side. We’ll have a few officers a mile or so out in their cars to help out if needed. We’re just watching him now but if you see any kid with him, we’re going in.”

Daryl nodded and looked over at Rick, “Let’s get ‘em.”

 

* * *

 

Rick had thought once they arrived at the house that things would move along progressively. Instead they still hadn’t had any sign of Callen. Rick had never actually been on a stakeout before. Daryl had joked about the whole small-town thing but really it was true. The closest Rick had ever been to a stakeout was when he had to wait at the back door of a house in case some kids ran out the back at a end of year party for some high school students while Shane went in the front. He’d had wait to enter a house to catch an armed man who was threatening to shoot himself as well but he’d had the entire force with him then.

Rick sighed and turned to look out of the side window dying to break the silence. Daryl locked onto the house door as soon as they had pulled into their spot and hadn’t said a word since.

“Not very excitin’, huh?” Daryl said breaking Rick out of his thoughts.

“Thought we’d at least have eyes on the guy.” Rick told him as he moved around to look out the back window.

“S’like this a lot.” Daryl replied. “Stop bein’ so antsy and worried. He’ll show.”

Rick watched as Daryl went back to looking at the door. Not willing to let the silence happen again he quickly spit out, “I almost transferred to Atlanta before.”

“No shit?” Daryl questioned.

Rick nodded at him. “My Captain recommended me. Thought I could do more, help more people, in a bigger city. Said I had the skills and commitment to do it. I wanted to. Thought I might give it a shot.”

“So why didn’t ya?”

“Lori. Carl. Lori didn’t want to move from where she was raised. We both grew up there. High school and all that. Carl was young and she didn’t want the added pressure of it. It made sense. It still does. I probably would’ve worked more. Missed a lot of things Carl had going on. And working in Atlanta is more dangerous than back home. Y’all deal with more shit than I’m used to. Stakeouts being one of them. Probably would have made Lori and I have a lot of fights over it, too.”

“Thought you said, you fight now.”

Rick turned to Daryl to deny it but realized he had told him that. “Yeah, We do,” he agreed as he looked back out the front window. “But we would argue more if that had happened.”

“I almost quit the force after I found out about Haylee. I was angry with the process. With never findin’ out about her until it was over. I didn’t think I wanted to do it anymore.”

Rick nodded as he realized Daryl was giving him a confession to go with his own. “So why didn’t you quit.”

“Hell, ‘cause of my brother mostly. He was real angry. We don’t talk often anymore. I told you he hasn’t forgiven me. He’s the only family I’ve got. Figure if he doesn’t want me around, I ain’t got anything to go back to.” Rick watched as Daryl’s top lip began to quirk. “Sides, if I ain’t doing all this heavy undercover shit then they’re going to need small towners like you to do it. And then y’all piss off your wives.”

Rick laughed hard at that. When he turned to Daryl, he found the man with a full on grin that made him laugh even harder. “That we would,” he managed to get out as he tried to stop his laughter, “that we would.”


	6. Saving

After another hour of no movement, Rick felt bored and annoyed. He was so anxious to catch this guy and stop him from hurting anyone else. Rick knew they wanted to just keep a watch on the house before bringing Callen in but he just wanted the man off the streets as soon as possible.

“Shit!” Daryl’s voice pulled Rick from his thoughts. He looked where Daryl had focused his attention and saw a group of young teenage girls stopped on the sidewalk right beside Callen’s house.

“It’s okay. We’re here.” He told Daryl. “Besides, he wouldn’t take girls right in front of his own house. It’d draw to much attention.” Before Rick could say anything else, McCann’s voice came over the radio. “We see them too. They’re fine. Keep your eyes looking out for Callen though.”

* * *

 

By the time nightfall hit, the girls were gone and Callen still hadn’t showed. Detective McCann spoke over the radio again, “We’ll give it another hour with all of us here and the other cops on standby and then we’ll just leave a couple people on watch for the rest of the night. I don’t know if he’s coming.”

Just then a large van pulled up and parked on the side of the road in front of Callen’s house. “There he is,” Rick told the group as they watched him get out of the van and make his way to the back of the truck.

“Damn it,” Daryl said. “McCann, we ain’t got eyes on the back of that van. Do you?”

“We can barely make anything out. I can only see a large bag. Shit. We have to bring him in now. We can’t risk what’s in that bag. You guys stay in the car on watch. Rainey and I will go get him. I’ll let Officer Brennan know that they’ll need to come watch the house tonight while we take him back to the precinct.”

Rick watched as McCann and Rainey exited their vehicle. “Victor Callen,” Detective McCann called out to him. Callen looked up, noticed the men walking towards him, and he took off towards the house. Before Rick and Daryl were able to get completely out of the car to help, Rainey had caught up to him and grabbed him, stopping him before he could even get on the front porch to his house.

Rainey walked him back to the van and slammed him against the side of the van to cuff him. “I didn’t do anything” Callen told him.

“Oh yeah?” Rainey asked, “Innocent men don’t run.”

“I didn’t do anything. I thought you were going to rob me!” He told Rainey.

“So them callin’ out to you was what, a welcome to bein’ robbed?” Daryl asked him.

Rick walked over to the bag that had been left in the van and looked in. “S’nothing. It’s empty.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Callen called again. “Let me go.”

“We’re going to take him in.” McCann told Rick and Daryl. “You guys wait for Officer Brennan to get here and then meet us back there.”

* * *

 

Rick took a seat on the sidewalk curb outside Callen’s house. “So did we just screw everything up over an empty bag?”

Daryl looked over to him. “Well it’s not gonna be easy now. Didn’t really have a choice, though. You wanna risk a girl bein’ in that bag.”

Rick nodded and pointed out Brennan getting out of his cop car.

Daryl walked over to the man. “We took Callen in. We just need you to make sure no one goes into this house until we’ve got our search warrant and can go in ourselves, alright?” When Daryl received Brennan’s affirmation, he started walking towards the car. “Come on, Rick.”

Rick got up and started to follow when he heard it, a light tapping of some kind of metal coming from behind him. Rick turned and stared at the house. After he confirmed he heard it again, he walked towards the house.

“Rick? Rick, what the hell are you doing?” Daryl called out to him. Rick threw his hand up in a be quiet/wait expression. The closer Rick got to the house, the louder the tapping was.

“Daryl. Get over here. Do you hear this?”

Daryl joined him at the side of the house. Rick watched as Daryl bent down towards a small window at the bottom of the house that he assumed went to the basement. “It’s coming from inside,” Daryl told him. “It’s spaced out too. It stops and starts back up again. Like someone is doin’ it on purpose.”

Rick’s eyes grew wide and he took off to the front of the house. His thoughts were going crazy. Could there be more girls down there. Had Callen taken even more girls that he hadn’t had a chance to bury yet. He heard Daryl behind him when he entered the house. Rick made his way down the hall and to where there were stairs leading down. He turned to make sure Daryl was behind him. “Ya realize we ain’t got a warrant, right?” Daryl asked him.

“Exigent circumstances?” he asked Daryl. Rick smiled when he saw Daryl pull out his gun. Rick pulled out his flashlight, turned it on, and began his decent down the stairs. As they got further down the stairs, the tapping was louder and louder. At the bottom of the stairs was a padlocked door. Daryl took off up the stairs and returned a minute later with a bolt cutter. Rick watched as Daryl cut the lock on the door.

Rick checked to make sure Daryl had his gun ready and when Daryl nodded at him, he opened the door. Daryl moved in first and froze. Rick moved around him to see what he was looking at and was shocked to see the two girls who had been taken in Atlanta handcuffed to a metal pipe. Both had their mouths taped and hands tied together and cuffed but both were alive. Their eyes widened in fear.

“It’s alright, girls. We’re police officers. We’re going to get you out of here.” Rick told them. He moved to the first girl and took the tape off her mouth as Daryl went to the second one. Rick reached over and grabbed the bolt cutters to cut the cuff locking each girl to the metal pipe. “Come on. Let’s get you both out of here alright. We’ll get you both to the hospital and to your families. Rick wrapped an arm around each girl and led them toward the stairs.

“We found the two girls. We need an ambulance and more cop cars out here right now. Get that warrant and get them to search this house tonight.” Daryl spoke into his radio as he followed Rick up the stairs and out of the house. Rick sat with both the girls on the steps outside the house and watched as Daryl took off towards his car. When Daryl returned Rick looked up and saw he had retrieved a blanket and two bottles of water. Rick nodded at Daryl and wrapped the blanket around the girls. Daryl handed them the water and they both watched as the girls drank gratefully.

Rick felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Daryl. “Gonna call Captain and let him know what’s going on. Tell him to expect Callen any minute and to tell McCann and Rainey what happened.” Rick nodded in agreement and watched him as he walked off to the side.

* * *

 

“I want to ask you girls a couple questions but I can wait until later if you want me to.” He told the girls.

The youngest one, Amy -13, looked up at him. “I can answer.”

“Me too,” the older one - 15, Cathy, said. “I’m want to help.”

Rick smiled at both girls. “Alright. The ambulance will be here any minute and your parents will be at the hospital waiting for you, so I’ll ask quick. We got a tape of you both being buried. Do you remember that.”

“Yeah.” Cathy said. “He had me get into the box and I thought he was going to leave me there. But he closed the lid and I heard the sound of something being thrown on top of it. But then he removed the top and pulled me out. He tied me up and made me sit and watch. He finished burying the box and then he took me back here.”

“Okay. That’s really helpful Cathy.” Rick looked over at Amy, “Is this what happened with you.”

“The same,” Amy answered. “And I saw him with a camera. He was recording it.”

“Is this place and the place where he put you in the box the only place you both have been?”

Both girls nodded at him. Rick looked up as he heard Daryl’s footsteps. “Ambulance is a minute out.”

Rick nodded at him. “One more questions girls. You’re doing great. Did you ever see the face of the man that took you? Could you recognize him if you saw him again?”

Rick had barely finished getting the question out of his mouth before Cathy answered him. “Yes,” she said. “I can recognize him. I won’t forget.” Rick looked over at Amy and she nodded at him as well. Rick stood as the ambulance entered the street and paramedics came over to them. Rick and Daryl walked with the girls to the ambulance.

“Can you ride with us?” Amy asked Rick. “You can ask us more questions if you want.” Rick looked down at her. “I wish I could sweetie but I think I need to get back to the station. Your parents will be there as soon as you get there.” The look on Amy’s face almost broke his heart.

Rick considered asking Daryl if he thought the captain would mind when Daryl interrupted him. “You oughta ride with ‘em. I’ll follow with the car. We can update the parents and then head back to the station. I’ll let the captain know.”

Rick nodded at Daryl in relief and climbed into the ambulance with the girls.

* * *

 

The entire ride to the hospital Rick had tried to keep the girls’ spirits light. He told them stories about Carl and his family and asked them about their pets and families. He wanted to keep their minds off whatever had happened to them. The families were waiting outside the hospital with the doctors and nurses when they arrived. Both girls were wheeled out of the ambulance and straight to their parents. Rick was watching the reunion when he felt someone walk up behind him. He looked over and saw Daryl standing beside him watching the reunion as well and then turned back to face the families.

“Everything with the Captain go alright?” Rick asked Daryl.

“Yeah,” Daryl replied. “Said we could come back after we finish here. Gave him all the details about how they were found. He said they got a search warrant and he was gonna send McCann back over there with Rainey to help search the house. They went ahead and arrested Callen. Captain was shocked they were found alive. Hell, I’m shocked. They shoulda been dead days ago.”

“Guess we got lucky then. Maybe he couldn’t kill them. Maybe he was waiting till he had a bunch or something. I don’t know. I’m just glad we found them when we did.”

“You found them,” Daryl told Rick.

“We both did.”

“No you,” Daryl replied evenly. “I was heading back to the car when you heard them. The Captain already said we weren’t gonna get into that house tonight. I was gonna just let 'em search it tomorrow. You heard the noise. You saved ‘em, Rick. These were the girls you were s’posed to save.”

Rick glanced over at Daryl in surprise. “Thank you.” Rick said. At Daryl’s confused glance, he continued, “for saying that. About saving those girls. But Daryl when I heard that noise I didn’t trust myself. But when you heard it too… And when you said it sounded deliberate. It gave me what I needed to get myself in that house. You’re a good partner, Daryl.”

“Guess ya ain’t too bad yourself. Ya ain’t one of those normal confused small-towners.” Daryl replied with a small twitch up in his lips.

Rick smiled full on back at him. “So we’re partners now?” he asked.

“You oughta be careful saying that. Your gonna make your work buddy back home mad.” Daryl said as he followed the parents of the girls who were being escorted away from their daughters into a private waiting room.

“He does get jealous.” Rick replied laughing as he followed Daryl.


	7. Breaking

When Rick and Daryl arrived at the precinct, McCann, Rainey, and Captain Sullivan were waiting for them in the Captain’s office. Rick entered the office and was quickly pulled into a strong handshake with the captain. “I have never been more thrilled at bringing someone into our precinct as I am right now with you. I knew you and Daryl would make a great team in catching this guy but you’ve both exceeded my expectations.”

Rick nodded at the Captain. “Well I guess we work well together. It was really just dumb luck though in finding those girls. He didn’t kill them and one more step away and I probably wouldn’t have heard that tapping.”

The Captain smiled at Rick. “Well the hard part is done now and we got an added bonus. You’ve done amazing work here Rick. I hate letting you go back to your own station but I now that we’ve caught Callen, you’re free to go back. Though we are still going to need you to come back and talk to our prosecutor at some point.” The Captain turned to McCann and started going over the details of what they needed to do with Callen.

Rick zoned out of the Captain’s conversation. He’d forgotten that he’d only been sent down here to inform the team about the case and about Bartley. He had been given the option to help catch the person responsible for the kidnappings if he had wanted. But no one had even expected him to still be down in Atlanta when they caught the perpetrator. Now he was struck with the realization that the Captain telling him he was done at the precinct. Rick glanced over to Daryl and saw the man’s stance was stiff. Rick flashed back to his promise to Daryl that they would find the man responsible and then he’d do whatever he could to get the information from Bartley about the bodies of all the missing girls. The thought made his stomach churn with guilt. He’d promised Daryl he would get his niece’s body, how was he supposed to just leave.

The Captain’s voice pulled Rick from his thoughts. “Alright boys,” he told Daryl, McCann and Rainey, “Why don’t you let me talk to Rick for a minute.”

Rick watched as Daryl quickly turned and marched out of the office never meeting Rick’s eyes. McCann and Rainey followed him.

Rick knew what he had to do. Before the Captain could even start talking, Rick interrupted him. “I’d like your permission to stay. At least for a little while longer. I can get clearance from my boss, I’m sure.”

The Captain looked at him in confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean. Why would you want to stay?”

Rick met Captain Sullivan’s eyes. “I need to find out where the remaining bodies are from Bartley. Or maybe even Callen knows. But I know I can get it out of Bartley now. And I need to. I won’t be able to move on until I can do this. I think the families deserve it.”

The Captain just looked at Rick. Finally, the man nodded. “Alright. If that’s what you want, I’ll agree to it. I’d agree to let you stay here forever if you wanted a permanent job so you staying a week or so longer won’t bother me. I’ll talk to your boss back home as well.”

“Thank you so much, Captain Sullivan. I really appreciate this.” Rick told the man. “But I do have one more request. Any chance I could go home for the weekend. I figure nothing big with Callen will happen this weekend and I really need to go see my son.”

The Captain nodded and Rick left the office. When he exited he saw Daryl at his desk. Rick just stared at the man for a minute. He was enthralled in whatever report he was working on. Rick walked up and stood in front of him but the man stayed focused on his work. “Daryl.” Rick said as he waited for the man to look up.

Daryl kept his eyes on the report. “When ya leaving?” he asked.

“Tonight,” Rick replied. “But Daryl I’m coming back.”

“I know. I’m sure our prosecutor will need your statement about finding them girls. We’ll see ya then.”

“No Daryl,” Rick continued, “I mean I’m really coming back. For however long it takes me to get Bartley to talk.”

Rick watched as Daryl finally looked up. When Daryl met his eyes, he continued. “I need to go see Carl. He’s gonna forget me if I don’t get home soon. I’ll spend the weekend with him. Tell him about this crazy country partner they gave me and then I’ll be back Monday to work on Bartley.” Rick saw he had Daryl’s attention. “With you,” he added. “I made a promise Daryl. And so did you. We have to get closure. Finding those girls alive was the best bonus I could ever ask for. But we still have a job to do.

Daryl finally gave his twitch of a smile to Rick. “Need a ride?”

“Nah,” Rick said. “Think I’ll take a rental. But I could use a ride back to your place. I’d like to grab some things to switch out back home.”

 

* * *

 

By the time Rick arrived back home he realized Carl would be getting home from school any minute. He threw his bags inside and then took a seat on the front porch to wait for him. When the bus pulled up he stood. Carl ran off the bus straight at him. “Dad! You’re back,” he yelled.

Rick pulled him into a hug. “Hey, Kiddo. Miss me?”

“Yeah! Shane said I could hang out with him at the station this weekend. He didn’t say you’d be there too.”

Rick felt the guilt seep up about having to leave Carl again. “How about we go inside and you can put all your books down. I’ll order us a pizza for tonight so Mom doesn’t have to cook. We can talk about everything in there.” he told Carl.

While Carl put all his school things inside, Rick called and ordered a pizza for delivery later that night. When he had finished, Carl came running back into the room. “Did you get the bad guy? Did you save anyone? Did you get shot at? “Was your partner cooler than Shane? Did the bad man tell you were all the other girls were buried yet? ” Carl fired off question after question.

“Slow down, son. One at a time,” Rick laughed. “Did I get the bad guy? Yes. We caught him and arrested him. Did I save anyone? We found those two girls that were taken and they were healthy as could be. They’re back with their parents. Did I get shot at? No. We didn’t have to deal with anything like that. Was my partner cooler than Shane? Yeah, he was pretty cool. You’d want him to take you huntin’ with him. But don’t tell Shane that.”

Rick paused after answering not wanting sure how to answer the last question. He’d told Carl before about his trips to see Bartley. He had explained why he was going to see the man that had killed all those girls as how he needed to see if he could convince him to say where he buried the bodies so that the families would be able to have a funeral. Carl had understood that then but Rick didn’t know how he would take that the reason Rick would be leaving again would be to see if he could try to convince him again.

“Listen buddy,” Rick took a seat and pulled Carl down next to him. “I still wasn’t able to get him to tell me where the other girls were yet. I was so focused on finding the other bad guy that I didn’t have a chance to ask him about it yet.”

Carl looked up at him. “But you’re going to try again, right? If you didn’t try yet you still might be able to get him to tell you.” Rick realized he shouldn’t be surprised. Carl was always so proud of the job he did as a cop especially when he was helping someone.

“I want to,” Rick told Carl, “but this means I’d have to leave again to go back to Atlanta for a little while. It might take a while to convince him to talk and then we’d have to find them. Would you be okay with me leaving again?”

Carl nodded before Rick could fully finish his sentence. “Yeah, Dad. I’ll be fine. You gotta help those families. You promised them you’d do whatever you could to find them. It’d be selfish of me to get you to break that promise. I want you to just try again.”

Rick stared in awe of his son, how mature and understanding he was. “It wouldn’t be selfish of you at all,” he told him. “You’re so unselfish when it comes to my job. And if you didn’t want me to go, I wouldn’t.”

Carl shook his head at Rick. “I’ll be good dad. I promise. But I’m not telling mom.”

“I think I can handle that part.” Rick told him. “Now tell me what you’ve been up to.”

 

* * *

 

Rick spent a couple hours with just Carl before Lori arrived at home. A few minutes later the pizza was there and the three had gathered to eat around the table. Both Lori and Carl filled the time with stories about what they’d done while he was gone. Rick shared a few about Atlanta as well. The evening was going well until Rick told her that he’d have to leave tomorrow to head back to Atlanta. Lori was angry, he could tell. When Carl had gone to bed, he decided to bite the bullet and talk to her. He walked into the kitchen where she was washing dishes.

“I know you’re angry about me having to leave again,” he told her as he walked in.

“Rick,” she sighed, “I want you to stay. I don’t want you going back to Atlanta. You caught the guy, that’s why you went. You can stay.”

“I can’t.” Rick said. He felt like pleading with her to understand.

“No. You can, you just don’t want to. Your son needs you here.”

Rick sighed. “Carl understands. He wants me to find those girls. He told me that he wanted me to go because I had promised those families. I asked him if he needed me now and he told me to try just a little bit longer. He believes I can do this. He knows that promise to the families is important. Don’t you understand too?”

“And what about your promise to us? That you’d be here to take care of us. This family isn’t just my responsibility.”

Rick knew she was right. All the pressure was put on her when he left. “Lori, I have to stay there. Just a little longer. Those guys need my help too. Those families. I promised them.”

Rick watched as Lori turned to face him. “If you leave again, We’re through.”

“Lori, you don’t mean that.”

“No Rick,” she told him, “I do. I’ve had it. I can’t take it anymore. All we do is fight. And then you leave for work. And then you come home and we fight some more. When the most peace we’ve had is when you’re gone… We need to figure out if we can work this out now or we’re done. I can’t keep doing this.”

Rick knew Lori had every reason to hate his work but he always thought she’d understand just how important it was to him. Every month she seemed to resent his job… resent him more and more. And he in turn began to resent her for it. The whole situation was toxic. “This means something to me Lori,” he told her, “it’s important to me. I was supposed to save these girls. I couldn’t. But now I’m so close to bringing closure to their families. And I made a promise. I swore to them I do everything I could to get their girls bodies. And I promised him. I promised myself. I have to do this. It won’t take much longer. But I need to do this for them. For me.”

“I understand that, Rick, but I’m tired. I’m tired of you working so much. I’m tired of all of our fighting. I’m tired of what we’re doing to Carl. And I just can’t do this anymore.”

Rick watched as Lori walked away and up the stairs and he knew at that moment that whatever had been boiling the past year finally spilled. He couldn’t shake the pain at knowing he had let Carl down. That he’d let Lori down. That he just couldn’t fix whatever was broke between them. Rick grabbed a blanket from the closet and passed out on the couch.


End file.
